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<br />\ 'I <br />'i <br />"., <br /> <br />looking for support and assistance in this area. As we know from our own communities <br />and hear repeatedly from the media, local government customers are looking for <br />responsive and effective government. By regularly collecting data on perfonnance <br />among the various service areas, jurisdictions will be better able to show their citizens <br />how their government works, and how they are trying to continually improve operations. <br /> <br />The Consortium was developed with the intent of giving all participants a chance to help <br />develop and analyze performance measurements that would assure comparability among <br />local governments and thus encourage improvement. Usefulness is one of the key <br />considerations of Consortium members; fundamentally our effort is about identifying best <br />practices and identifying areas for improvement. <br /> <br />Forty-two cities and counties have joined together in this Comparative Performance <br />Measurement Consortium. They share several common characteristics: Each jurisdiction <br />has at least 200,000 people; each has dedicated some of their staffs time to participate in <br />this effort; each has made a financial contribution to become a Consortium member; and <br />each jurisdiction's chief administrative officer or a deputy is involved with this project in <br />an advisory capacity via the consortium's Policy Board. <br /> <br />A Steering Committee comprising ICMA project staff, Urban Institute staff, Deloitte & <br />Touche advisors, and each of the Technical Advisory Committee Chairs is responsible for <br />developing the instruments, gathering data from the jurisdictions, and making <br />recommendations to the Policy Board. <br /> <br />Because the Consortium is a participatory project governed by its members, the Policy <br />Board sets policy and makes the major decisions. Its first task was to decide on which <br />services the consortium should focus. Four areas were chosen: <br /> <br />. Police <br />. Fire <br />. Neighborhood Services, which includes parks and recreation, libraries, <br />highways' and road maintenance, refuse collection, street lighting, code <br />enforcement, and housing <br />. Support Services, which includes purchasing, fleet management, risk <br />management, data processing, human resources, and facility management <br /> <br />Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) were formed for each of the four areas. The <br />T AC members are local government staff with expertise in the four service areas. After <br />an initial training session focusing on the various types of performance indicators, each' <br />T AC met and determined the initial in.dicators. <br /> <br />Each T AC began by assessing the respective service and developing appropriate <br />performance indicators. During the current phase, the T ACs are collecting data on these <br />indicators and analyzing the data for comparability and value. After the performance <br />indicators are tested, best practices among jurisdictions will be examined. <br />